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Ohio Mother Indicted in Son’s Drowning After Bodycam Captures ‘Gave Him to God’ Claim

Her lawyer expects to seek an insanity verdict, reflecting investigators’ description of a reported spiritual delusion.

Overview

  • An Ohio grand jury indicted Ruth Miller on aggravated murder, child endangerment and domestic-violence counts tied to the Aug. 23 incidents at Atwood Lake.
  • Prosecutors filed alternative aggravated-murder counts in her 4-year-old son’s death, including an age-based charge for a victim under 13.
  • Miller is jailed in Tuscarawas County after discharge from a mental-health facility and is scheduled for arraignment Friday in New Philadelphia.
  • Newly released body camera video shows Miller telling a ranger she threw her son in the lake and “gave him to God,” as officials describe a “spiritual delusion.”
  • Authorities say her husband drowned separately while attempting a faith test and that three older children escaped after a golf cart was driven into the lake; the surviving children are with relatives.